


The ghost by my side, so perfectly clear

by youarebymyside



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Depression, Insomnia, M/M, Madness, Not Beta Read, post!TFTBL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25585522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youarebymyside/pseuds/youarebymyside
Summary: "He misses him. He misses him so badly, it becomes an obsession."Rhys is in deep.
Relationships: Handsome Jack & Rhys (Borderlands), Handsome Jack/Rhys (Borderlands)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	The ghost by my side, so perfectly clear

**Author's Note:**

> Created a wip back in August'19, before BL3 was out, while still screaming after replaying TFTBL. Fell into this hell again & finally was able to finish. Gearbox should have brought Jack back in BL3, just like they were planning to. Cowards. 
> 
> Not beta read & I'm not an English native speaker. I probably did my best, but would appreciate a hand anyway.
> 
> The name of the fic, the quotes at the beginning & the end are from the "Still here" song by Digital Daggers.

**Hidden companion, phantom be still in my heart** **  
** **Make me a promise that time won't erase us** **  
** **That we were not lost from the start**

  
It doesn't happen in an instant. At first he has nightmares. In his dreams Jack can bleed and scream at him. Can blame him or can smile at him, cruel, the devil in his eyes. He visits him every night, Rhys wakes up with his heart in his throat. Exhausted and scared, he still tries to move forward and forget about the person he was adoring for the most part of his life, even as an adult. 

He builds his own empire, his child: The Atlas Company. His own cosy room with books and a fireplace at the top of the building; the office looks just like the one that Jack had back when he was alive. The President, the Big Boss. Thousands of workers, tons of money. 

He’s got everything and nothing satisfies him. Not the weapons, not his own army, not the money. Food becomes tasteless. People that flirt with him don't make him uncomfortable, they make him _sick._ He becomes so depressed, he can barely sleep.

He misses him. He misses him so badly, it becomes an obsession. He misses talking to him, he misses Jack praising him. He wonders how it would feel, to actually touch his skin and get a reaction back. A moan or a sigh, an emotion from a living being. To _love_ him. 

He hires a group of ten, the best scientists he can ever find. He builds him a body himself, it is made of human alike materials but is impossible to kill. Well, _almost_ impossible, but the others don't need to know that. 

He makes sure that when Jack is back, he stays with him. That they stay _together._

He finds those DNA samples that Nakiyama kept and that the Vault Hunters — bandits, freaking _cowards,_ they tried to erase what was left of Jack — could not get their hands on. 

He works so hard for it and by the time the job is done, he hasn't had a proper sleep in almost three weeks. Eighteen days. He can barely tell the reality from his imagination. 

Five scientists are dead, another three are injured and lost their job, no complaints allowed, no payment. Some of them were not good and tough enough, all they could is to brag about how smart they were. Idiots, they were warned, they signed the contract: no talking about the project outside work and be cautious.

It is not Rhys's fault they could not use their brains (if they even had any) and do their job properly. It is not like Rhys pulled the trigger himself, most of them died from the electricity anyway, from the shock wave while upgrading and testing the body. 

He can't tell if the remaining scientists simply hate him or even afraid of him. He catches other people's glances and how they look away when he looks their way. He hears them whisper and how they pretend they weren't talking when he asks about it. 

It doesn't matter. 

When Rhys finally brings Jack back, his body is so heavy. He just sits there behind his desk, watching the hologram glitching. 

All these months of work, sweat, hallucinations, memories. Dark nights, aching muscles, loneliness. Scrolling through photos of Jack to recreate how he was before. _Missing him._

Hearing Jack's voice once again, Rhys could actually break, weeping. 

Jack _knows_ he was away. This asshole that sits in front of him, he made sure that Jack disappeared for a while. And he looks so miserable now, he looks like he is going to pass out. 

That is probably what he deserves, this dickface. He doesn't even say much, only "Hey Jack."

Jack's first impulse is to kill him, of course. Another tiny brain that betrayed him after Jack handled Hyperion to him, made him the president. And yet, Jack looks at him quietly. Wondering. Rhys knows that Jack is a narcissist, but he is not stupid. Jack thinks that Rhys would never bring him back unless something didn't work out, but it doesn't look like a loser's place, either. The office is so big and the view is so nice, it is ridiculous. Bringing him back just to laugh is not Rhys's style as well, too much trouble. What is it then? 

"Couldn't bear the existence without me, _Rhysie_?" the words are sharp, the name is poisonous.

Rhys barely moves in his chair. _Is he gonna pass out?_ ** _Is he?_**

"You really can't tell, can you?"

Oh, this twink is such _an asshole_. If Jack could only get inside his head again, just for a few seconds, it would be enough to fry that tiny brain of his. 

"Killing you right now isn't an option I guess?" 

"Aren't you curious what's next?"

Jack looks at his own hands: half transparent but no longer blue. They are orange now and it matches the colour of Rhys's new ECHOeye. Are they connected somehow? Jack tries to affect him, to reach the wires in his head, but feels no connection at all. Nothing happens. 

Rhys sees the confusion that Jack tries to hide. It seems to Jack that the boy tries to smirk, but it only looks like he is having a stroke. He looks like a madman. _Honestly, what is going on here?_

"You can't communicate with things _yet_. But I'll give you the access."

Jack raises his eyebrow. _Oh?_

"You better."

He wonders if he should be pissed off or turn on the charm. If he could actually threaten him, just grab that skinny throat of his. 

"I'll give you your body back, your real one. Before the Vault, before that red haired siren," Rhys notices Jack's expression. "Don't worry, she's dead. Tortured, lost her powers."

 _What_ ** _the fuck_** _is going on here?_

"What a waste. Could've been useful." 

Rhys shrugs. "Not my doing anyway, but yeah. We'll find another if you'd need one." Jack keeps quiet and Rhys continues, "I'll give you the access to the station, you'll be able to interact with things. Basically, you will be alive again and you'll be almost impossible to kill this time. This is just a test."

Is this boy for real? Is that even possible? Even that crazy old fanboy that was obsessed with him and wanted to create his AI didn't manage to do this. 

"You look like _shit,_ " Jack says. Rhys recognises it: coping mechanisms, trying to empower, to comfort himself through insults. Or in this case, he is probably just stating the fact.

Rhys looks at him closely, his real arm is trembling. This is so typical, he was sleepwalking for too long. He opens his mouth as if he is about to say something but closes again. Not worth it. 

"Thanks," Rhys chuckles and it is a miracle that he can even be ironic at this point. Oh, this _moron,_ Jack is going to make him pay for what he did to him. Erasing him for all those years, for only Rhys knows how many. There was nothing. No darkness, no light, not even memory or data files. Completely empty. Not existing. 

Rhys groans and closes his eyes. He sinks into the chair and even Jack knows that this fool in front of him will be out in a minute or two. 

"I'll give you the body," Rhys repeats. "I'll give you _everything._ I missed you like crazy, you psychotic piece of shit."

"Oh, you—" Jack can't control himself anymore, there is disgust in his tone, he flashes in the agony. Rhys turns him off. Jack's high electronic voice echoes in him like the most beautiful melody since the moment Jack tried to kill him on Pandora. 

He knows Jack is angry. He knows Jack is going to try to kill him again. He knows that at first he may not even want to listen to him. 

Rhys is ready. 

He is looking forward to it. 

He is dying because of how much he _wants_ it, he wants to pay him back. He wants to give him everything and _anything_ , Jack just needs to ask, to make a list. Rhys will obey and blindly follow him. He will be Jack's loyal soldier, his toy, his kitten, his partner in crime. His favourite boy once again, even his lover if Jack will be kind enough to allow it. 

He will fight for Jack to listen to him. 

And if in the end he still won't? 

Rhys will let him. 

Rhys will give him the gun himself.

**I try to protect you, I can't let you fade,  
I feel you slipping, I feel you slipping away.**

****July 28, 2020**.**


End file.
